The Cavendon Chronicles

The Cavendon Chronicles covers 36 years in the lives of the Inghams and the Swanns, the two families who live at Cavendon, a stately home in the North of England. The first book begins in 1913 and the third one ends in 1945. During those years we see the ups and downs in the lives of all of the characters and how they are affected by two world wars. We witness how the women of Cavendon, which I call Women Warriors, cope, lead and overcome many trials and tribulations to triumph in the end.

– Barbara Taylor Bradford

Cavendon Hall is home to two families, the aristocratic Inghams and the Swanns who serve them, just as their ancestors did over the centuries.

Charles Ingham, the sixth Earl of Mowbray, lives there with his wife Felicity and their six children: Guy, the heir, who is studying at Cambridge; their younger son Miles, attending Eton; and their four daughters Diedre, Daphne, DeLacy and Dulcie, affectionately called the Four Dees by the staff. Walter Swann, the premier male of the Swann family, is valet to the earl. His wife Alice, a clever seamstress, who is in charge of the countess’s wardrobe, also makes clothes for the four daughters.

For centuries, these two families have lived side-by-side, beneath the backdrop of the imposing Yorkshire manor. But now, with World War I looming, these two families will find themselves tested in ways they never thought possible. Loyalties are tested and betrayals are set into motion. In this time of uncertainty, one thing is sure: these two families will never be the same again. Set over a period of sixteen years (from 1913 to 1929), Cavendon Hall is Barbara Taylor Bradford at her very best.

The Cavendon Women, the stunning sequel to Barbara Taylor Bradford’s Cavendon Hall follows the Inghams’ and the Swanns’ journey from a family weekend in the summer of 1926 through to the devastation of the Wall Street crash of 1929.

1926. One stately home’s future lies with four very different young women…

On a summer weekend in 1926 the Ingham family gathers at Cavendon Hall, the great house in Yorkshire that has been their family home for centuries, summoned by the Earl. With them are the Swanns who have served the house for generations – and know all their secrets.

The estate is under threat: the aftermath of the Great War has left Cavendon facing ruin. Its heir is pushing for divorce so he can follow his heart. And the Earl has a surprise of his own.

Four young women from both sides of the house will be the ones to shape its future – Daphne, fighting to modernise her ancestral home; Cecily Swann, forging a path as a fashion designer in London; Deidre, the career girl, and Dulcie, the outspoken debutante. They will change the estate’s future for good or ill as the roaring twenties burn towards the Great Depression. Nothing will ever be the same again…

The Cavendon Luck: The great house of Cavendon Hall has a new generation of children playing in its halls and gardens.After the ravages of the Great War and the Great Depression, the future looks assured for the first time in a decade.

But over Europe the storm clouds of war are gathering. And it must be the estate’s younger generation who step forward to play their part and fight for their country, young men and women from both above and below stairs.

Tracing the families of the house from Yorkshire to pre-war Berlin, from Dunkirk and its great armada of little ships to the Battle of Britain and the Blitz, this gripping historical family saga weaves together the personal and political for the daughters of the Earl – and for their children, who must join the front line. Will the Cavendon Luck hold?

Secrets of Cavendon: The year is 1949 and the Second World War has exacted a terrible price on Britain. The great Yorkshire estate of Cavendon Hall is facing bankruptcy. Its two families, the aristocratic Inghams and their retainers the Swanns, are at odds for the first time in living memory over the course that must be taken to save it.

In London, a city still scarred by bombsites, the Earl’s niece, Alicia Stanton, is making her mark in the glamorous film world. Alongside her, Victoria Brown, the Swanns’ young wartime evacuee, is starting out as a fashion photographer. The New Look is in, Princess Elizabeth’s wedding has raised morale and the capital is filled with a new energy. Yet, for both of the girls, Cavendon, the place where they grew up, will always be truly home.

But it is Cavendon that threatens them all, young and old, when its secrets, long buried in the past, rise to the surface. Can the Inghams and the Swanns unite to save the family name and the one thing they all hold dear – their future?